Ruth Hyde Paine testified before the Warren Commission that she became a Quaker in 1951. She had been acquainted with Quakerism long before that, however, having attended Friends meetings in her hometown of Columbus, Ohio, since 1947 (when she would have been 14 or 15 years old). In that year, too, she attended a Young Friends Conference at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana.

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/paine_r3.htm

Although Ruth attended and graduated from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio – not a Quaker institution – she appears to have maintained contacts with Earlham through the years. (Richmond, Indiana is only about 50 miles from Yellow Springs, Ohio.) In fact, Richmond was Ruth’s last stop before driving to New Orleans during her “vacation” of late summer, 1963. She was visiting two faculty members from Earlham College – Wilmer Joseph Stratton, a chemistry professor, and Paul Alvin Lacey, professor of English.

Now it should be noted that Midwestern Quakerism developed along somewhat different lines than the popular mind might perceive. The Friends are not, nor have they been for some time, monolithic. There have been serious schisms over time. Without going into details, suffice it to say that Quakers in the Midwest were strongly influenced by their rural, conservative, even evangelical environment. For an excellent background see:

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/imh/view.do?docId=VAA4025-096-1-a03

In short, much of Midwestern Quakerism, and Earlham College in particular, seems to have evolved – not uniformly of course, but importantly – in a very conservative direction. Looking over these lists of Earlham alumni and faculty reveals some very interesting names:

Consider, for example, David W Dennis and his father, William Cullen Davis, President of Earlham from 1929 to 1946. Also D Elton Trueblood, theologian and confidante of Presidents. All very conservative and ardent anti-communists -- with some earmarks of being intelligence assets.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/2196178

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._Elton_Trueblood

But that is only the beginning. There are even more interesting Earlhamites – this time John Birch Society luminaries.

First, there is Bonner Fellers, student at Earlham from 1914 to 1916, before entering West Point. Also, from the alumni list, note his daughter, Nancy Jane Fellers, class of 1952.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonner_Fellers

And then there is E Merrill Root, professor of English at Earlham from 1920 to 1960, a strong anti-communist and a critic of the liberal lean in academia. He was a contributor to several right-wing journals including the John Birch Society’s American Opinion. In fact, in his retirement Root was an American Opinion editor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Merrill_Root

Now it is not clear that Ruth Paine had any contact with these individuals, but she would likely have been exposed to their philosophy as a Midwestern Quaker in the 1950s, particularly given her ties to Earlham College. And it remains fascinating that she met with the two Earlham professors immediately prior to her final few months of involvement with Lee Harvey and Marina Oswald.

And by the way, there is yet another interesting name on the Earlham alumni list:

Von Edwin Peacock, class of 1957.

Peacock, you will recall, was Acting Director of Casa de los Amigos in Mexico City at the time Lee Harvey Oswald – or an impostor – supposedly stayed there in the fall of 1963.

Did Ruth Paine know Von Peacock? Did Peacock study under E Merrill Root? Did either or both absorb his philosophy? Or were they in some other sense beholden to him or to other right-wing elements of the College?

Stig, I hope you got my email (not sure if it sent properly). This is, imo, a very important contribution to an often misunderstood part of the case.

When time allows, I hope to give a more detailed reply.

_________________Mixing Pop and Politics he asks me what the use isI offer him embarrassment and my usual excusesWhile looking down the corridorOut to where the van is waitingI'm looking for the Great Leap Forward Billy Bragg-----------------------------Australians don't mind criminals: It's successful bullshit artists we despise. Lachie Hulme -----------------------------The Cold War ran on bullshit. Me

Also this from Ruth:"In the past few years I have thought a lot about killing and violence. I have come to think of right and wrong in terms of what helps the individual soul and what harms it. I don't like blanket statements. I prefer to pass all judgments on the individual case. I don't see right or wrong in absolute or general terms. It's far too complicated a matter."

And this story related in the words of the author: "In the days after the assassination when officials and newspapermen left her little time for her housework, she employed a colored woman to help her. The colored woman expressed interest in getting advice from a birth-control clinic, so Ruth drove off with her helper to a birth-control clinic and let the house go hang."

Maybe that is exactly what happened... but then maybe the "colored woman" was pressured into it by the very pushy Quaker. Henry Kloepfer (whose wife and daughters visited the Oswald's in NO at the request of Ruth Paine) was a member of the Eugenics society who operated a genetics clinic in NO giving advice to prospective parents... and the Dallas clinic had been started by Margaret Sanger who linked her support of family planning to eugenics rather than the more politically correct women's rights movement.

The Myth of Midwestern Quakerism:"We treasure our Quaker heritage but know little of John Woolman who led the fight against slavery and discrimination yet our Yearly Meeting is among the most segregated groups anywhere."http://quakerseeker.blogspot.com/2010/05/myth-of-midwestern-quakerism.html

_________________Mixing Pop and Politics he asks me what the use isI offer him embarrassment and my usual excusesWhile looking down the corridorOut to where the van is waitingI'm looking for the Great Leap Forward Billy Bragg-----------------------------Australians don't mind criminals: It's successful bullshit artists we despise. Lachie Hulme -----------------------------The Cold War ran on bullshit. Me